‘Dictatorship’ rebuke for government terror plans

Theresa May faced criticism from her own terror watchdog as her plans to crack down on internet giants such as Google and Facebook were compared to the actions of a Chinese dictator.

Max Hill, the independent reviewer of counter-terror legislation, said the suggestion of punishing leading tech companies for “not doing enough” to halt the spread of extremist material would be hard to implement.

“We do not live in China, where the internet simply goes dark for millions when government so decides. Our democratic society cannot be treated that way,” he said.